“He drives his own car and thinks like a chess player,” Stone tells The Post, and goes so far as to describe the Russian strongman as “humble.”

Then again, the 70-year-old director once called Hitler “an easy scapegoat” and found good things to say about many of America’s top detractors — Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and Edward Snowden among them.

It was while wrapping up his biographical thriller “Snowden” that the filmmaker found himself in the figurative embrace of Putin.

So began 19 hours of conversations with the KGB agent-turned-Russian Federation president: talks Stone pieced together for “The Putin Interviews,” a four-part series that premieres Monday on Showtime.

It’s easy to wonder why the notoriously secretive Putin would agree to sit down with Stone, as he did over the course of two years.

“He did the interviews because he wants to be heard,” Stone says. “Plus, I think my questions challenged him.”

Stone says he kept Putin on his toes by posing unexpected queries, going so far as to ask Putin how soundly he sleeps.

“He told me that he sleeps very well,” says Stone. “If I was him, I’d be a nervous wreck … Apparently, judo helps.” Putin, it turns out, is a black belt who’s been honing his judo skills since age 11.

‘He did the interviews because he wants to be heard. Plus, I think my questions challenged him.

Stone says he was also impressed by what he saw as a lack of ostentation during their interviews, which took place in Putin’s automobile, home and office.

“Putin has a dacha that is nice,” he says, affirming that it’s not much more than nice. “I did not see yachts and gigantic mansions.”

But what Stone did see was Putin’s eyes for the ladies.

“He likes women, and brightened when my wife was around,” Stone says. “Maybe he relaxes with his mistress-cum-wife. A lot of men do that.”

Anyone expecting Stone to eventually cook up a feature film on Putin may be disappointed.

“I don’t think I would have the guts,” says the “JFK” director. “Sometimes, after seeing the real thing, I’m not sure what else I can express.”

That said, he’s pretty sure he knows who might play Putin: “On the surface, Jeremy Renner looks a bit like him.” But, he adds, Putin “is very smart. I don’t know how smart [Renner] is. [Leonardo] DiCaprio could look like [Putin] — and he could play Lenin, as well.”

Given Putin’s professed love of swimming and pumping iron, one wonders if they ever met in a gym.

“I did not work out with him,” Stone says with a laugh. “He is in great shape. I think I would have been embarrassed.”